SF 487 
.R655 
Copy 1 



^ 



arm-Poultry Series. No. 6. ^ 

WINTER eggs! I 

How to Get Them. 




I Selection, Care and Food | 
I of Laying Hens. 



> BY 

\ JOHN H. ROBINSON, 

I) 

I Editor of Farm-Poultry 

I PRICE, 25 CENTS. 

^ PUBLISHED BY 

I FARM-POULTRY PUB. CO., - Boston. Mass. 



ed->^jAC^tfi^^^iB^C^iA^^^C'>JI^«^4^0^^^^^€'Ml^-<YMii^r»f 



THE BEST POULTRY PAPER 

i 



Any paper can claim it ; Many do claim it ; 

Only One Proves It. That one is 



Farm -Poultry. 






i 

No Other Paper Combines so Many Good Features. ? 



TTHJE I^I^OOF. 



Market Poultry Keeping. \ Fancy Poultry Culture. 



Covers the entire subject thor- 
ough l3^ — Never had a Rival. 

Gives the best market reports 
and advices. — Twice a Month. 



Conducts at own expense Practi- 
cal Experiment Club. — Nothing 
Ei.se Like It. 



More matters of real interest to 
Fanciers than any other paper. — 
Compare files for past year. 

Best reports of big- shows. — Only 
One Illustrating Winners. 

All Show Awards in Full and 
Promptly. — Readers get the news. 



Compare FARM-POULTRY with any or all other papers. 

Can jou find one other that does not fail on some one of the above 
points .'* Other poultry papers are good; Farm-Poultry is the best. 





I. 



i 

f FARM-POULTRY PUB. CO., 22 custom House St., Boston, Mass. 



8 



FABM-POUI.TRY, semi-mo., $1.00 per 
year. A FEW HENS, mio., 26 cts. per year. 
And your choice of any other two 50 ct. 
poultry papers in U. S. FOUR PAPERS, 
regular price S2.85. AJLL. FOR $1.25. 



, FARM-POULTRY SERIES No. 6. 



WINTER EGGS; 



OR 



HOW TO GET GOOD PROFIT 
FROM HENS. 



JOHiN n. ROBINSON, 



Copyrighted— 1900. 



PRICE, 25 CENTS. 



Published by 

Farm-Poultry Pub. Co., Boston, Mass. 

1900. 



1968 



CONTENTS.^ <^ 



^ •>? CO 



: >- 






* . ^ O "^ 

o O 



Introductory 

Beginning With Pullets . 

Buying Pullets 

Old Hens as Layers 

Getting Ready for Winter 

How Much Room per Hen 

How Many Hens in a Flock 

How to Prevent Colds 

Feeding Fowls 

A. F. Hunter's Method . 

C. H. Wyckoff's Method 

Cooked vs. Uncooked Mashes 

C. I. Nesmith's Method . 

The Evening Mash . 

E. O. Roessle's Method . 

The Author's Method 

Hot or Cold Mashes 

The Feeder Must Use Judgment 

Adjusting the Ration 

Good Rations Provide Variety 

Grit Essential . 

About Exercise 

How Much to Feed . 

M. K. Boyer's Method 

S. B. Patton's Method 

Obe Lash's Method . 

General Remarks on Care of Laying Hens 



SF4%1 



4 n 

7 

8 
ro 
II 

12 

13 

H 
20 

25 
26 
26 
27 
27 
29 
30 
32 
34 
3'5 
36 
36 
37 
39 
39 
40 

41 



RLLb 



WINTER EGGS, 



INTRODUCTORY. 

This little book treats of the hen as a producer 
of eggs. Of the breeding and early life of the chick 
it has nothing to say, except vv-hat may come in 
incidentally in telling what should be the founda- 
tion of good laying stock. Nor does it consider 
the effect of a season of heavy egg production on 
the after usefulness of a hen as a layer and breeder. 
For, though these are important matters in their 
proper place, it is not desirable that the novice w^ho 
wishes to know first of all how to get eggs, and 
especially how to get them in fall and early v/inter 
when eggs are scarce and bring highest prices, 
should have the subject confused in his mind by an 
attempt to consider it in all its bearings at the same 
time. The old rule, "One thing at a time, and 
that done well," is a good one to employ here. So 
in this book I will treat only of the hen as an egg 
producer, and try to tell the reader how to get a 
good egg yield and at the same time keep his hens 
in good laying if not in good breeding condition 
throughout a year. 



4 WINTER EGGS. 

BEGINNING WITH PULLETS. 

When Hatched? — It is necessary to state the 
case a little differently for different conditions. Let 
us take first the case of a poultry keeper who has 
growing a lot of pullets which he intends to keep 
as layers. We will assume that these pullets were 
bred from stock of good average laying capacity, 
and that they were hatched at such season that if 
they develop seasonably they may be expected to 
begin laying about October, — say, between Sep- 
tember 15th and November 15th. If of one of the 
large Asiatic breeds, Brahmas, Cochins or Lang- 
shans, they were hatched between February ist 
and April 15th, preferably early in March. If of a 
medium sized American breed, Plymouth Rock, 
Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, or of a cross of an 
Asiatic and a Mediterranean variety they were 
hatched between March ist and May ist for the 
Rocks and for strains or stocks of the others which 
are large in frame and a little slow to mature ; and 
between March 15th and June ist for average 
Wyandottes, Reds and crosses. If of the small, 
Mediterranean and like breeds, they were hatched 
between April ist and July ist, the earlier half of 
the period being most desirable for stock that is 
large of its kind ; while for average stock of these 
small breeds June is not too late to hatch pullets 
with good prospects of getting them to laying 
before Thanksgiving. 



HOW TO GET THEM. 5 

Age at which Pullets Lay. — I have been thus 
exphcit in giving this information because I find 
that every fall many of those who are turning their 
attention to ^^^ production w^ant to know what 
they may expect from the stock in their hands, 
which was perhaps hatched without special thought 
of the time when the pullets would reach laying 
maturity ; or what to expect from stock which they 
purpose buying ; or what stock to buy for the pur- 
pose. If well fed and properly cared for, pullets 
of the kinds mentioned, hatched within the period 
specified for each kind can generally be counted on 
to come to laying maturity at the desired season. 
Some of the more precocious will lay earlier. If 
only a little earlier it does not make much differ- 
ence ; but if too precocious, (as when the earliest 
pullets begin laying in July), they do not as a rule 
turn out desirable layers : for very early laying is 
apt to be at the expense of better physical develop- 
ment, and, besides, the pullets which lay so early 
frequently molt like old hens, in the fall or early 
winter, and are of no further value as producers 
until spring. 

Precocious Pullets. — If these precocious pullets 
lay good sized, marketable eggs, they may be kept 
until they begin to molt ; but if they lay small eggs 
and lay irregularly it is better policy to market 
them. And throughout the season, as the later 
pullets come on, the keeper should mark the too 



6 WINTER EGGS. 

precocious ones as not desirable for his permanent 
stock, and dispose of them accordingly. 

Slow Maturing Pullets. — There will also be 
some pullets slow to mature. When this is because 
they failed to make good growth, because they are 
stunted, — runts ; they should not be reserved for 
layers. But when the pullets are well developed, 
and have the appearance of being about to begin 
laying, it need cause no uneasiness if they happen 
to be a little longer than the average of their sisters 
in getting down to business. 

Late Hatched Chicks as Layers. — A question 
often asked is, " How late can I hatch chicks, and 
still make winter layers of the pullets?" This 
question comes most frequently from beginners and 
from those of limited experience whose early 
chickens have been lost. To such I would say 
that in hatching chicks later than the periods men- 
tioned above people sometimes get the pullets to 
laying at the average age for the kind, but gener- 
ally if these late pullets lay early it is at the expense 
of growth and stamina, and their period of useful- 
ness as layers is therefore short; while if they 
obtain their full development before commencing 
to lay, no eggs are received from them until late in 
the winter when prices have fallen considerably. 
Let me add that the best course for the beginner 
who failed to get his pullets out seasonably and is 
depending on his own hatches is to let the matter 



HOW TO GET THEM. ^ 

go over for another year. He has hardly a chance 
in twenty of making the late chicks pay. Numer- 
ous instances can be quoted showing where late 
chicks have made very profitable layers. But in 
reckoning probabilities we must consider what is 
usual rather than what is exceptional. 

BUYING PULLETS. 

Let us take now the case of a beginner who 
wishes to buy pullets for layers. He should take 
only pullets hatched within the period which has 
been specified for their kind, and well grown for 
their age. Beware of taking later pullets on the 
seller's assurance that with extra good care and a 
little forcing they can easily be got to laying in 
season to make them profitable e^^ producers. 
Beware, also, of pullets that have not made good 
growth for their age. Pullets stunted in the early 
weeks or months of their lives rarely overcome that 
setback, no matter how good the care and food. 

Prices. — A matter of much importance to tlie 
buyer of laying stock is the price. It is frequently 
stated that early hatched pullets are worth $i.:^o to 
$3.00, or even $2.50 each for ^gg production alone. 
Such statements are, on their face, absurd, and 
very few hens are sold for layers at such prices. 
Persons who buy hens for laying purposes, only, at 
such figures pay an excessive price for them. The 
reasoning by which these figures have been sup- 



S WINTER EGGS. 

ported looks so plausible to the novice that it may 
be worth something to him to have the fallacy of it 
-exposed here. Assuming that the pullet will lay, 
say, twelve dozen eggs within a year after begin- 
ning, that the eggs will sell for twenty-five cents a 
dozen (about the average for strictly fresh eggs 
near the eastern cities), and that then the hen sold 
for poultry will bring enough to pay for what it 
cost to keep her ; it is argued that the owner of the 
hen cannot afford to sell her for less than $3.00 or 
$3.50. In other words, it will pay him better to 
keep the hen than to sell her for a lower price. 
But the question for the buyer is to buy the hen at 
such a figure that he can make something on her 
before her brief period of usefulness is over. Obvi- 
ously if he pays $3. 00 or $3.50 for a hen she will 
have to be an extraordinary layer to bring in enough 
for eggs to pay for herself, and food, housing and 
care in a year. For ^^^ production alone, the 
object being to produce eggs for market, one can- 
not afford to pay much above their value as poultry 
for pullets. When the pullets are to be used for 
breeders as well as layers the case bears a different 
aspect which need not be considered here. 

OLD HENS AS LAYERS. 

Which to Keep. — So conflicting are the opinions 
of authorities on the question of keeping over old 
hens as layers, that the novice is generally at a loss 



HOW TO GET THEM. 9 

v/hose advice to take. Some advise killing- off ail 
the hens at about a year and a half old, replacing- 
them with pullets of the season. I think that as 
good a rule for this case as has been offered is one 
I gave elsewhere some time ago : " One who is 
producing eggs for market should never dispose of 
a good layer while in good condition, unless he has 
more eggs than he can handle, or has another to 
take her place. Hens which as pullets laid well, 
kept in good condition, then began to molt earh' 
and promise to be in laying trim by Thanksgiving 
are always worth keeping unless their room is 
needed for som.ething you are sure is better prop- 
erty. It is not merely a question of age. This 
mode of selection might result in keeping some 
hens until three or four years old, but the propor- 
tion of old ones in the flock would never be larj^e, 
and no old hens that are not good layers need be 
kept. 

Buying- Old Hens. — As to buying hens for 
layers : — if the hens are certainly known to be 
young hens (in their second year) and are in 
promising condition, they might be a good invest- 
ment. That would depend on whether or not one 
could get as many pullets of the quality wanted at 
a reasonable figure. The price, however, ought to 
be the market price of the hens for poultry. Hens 
past two years old should not be purchased for 
layers. 



lO WINTER EGGS. 

GETTING READY FOR WINTER. 

Begin Early. — AVith suitable stock, the first 
right step toward putting pullets in shape is to get 
them into their wiiiter quarters. The early part of 
August is not too soon to have the earliest pullets 
culled over and placed in lots of suitable numbers 
in the pens they are to occupy through the v^^inter. 
The later ones may be left out in their chicken 
coops longer, but all should be in winter quarters 
before the cold fall rains begin. In this it pays to 
take time by the forelock. It is poor policy to 
delay moving the pullets until bad weather comes. 
Furthermore, it is of greatest importance that the 
move to permanent quarters be made before the 
ovaries begin to develop, as disturbances at that 
time may retard laying for weeks. 

Have the House Ready. — Putting the pullets 
into winter quarters thus early presupposes that the 
houses have been made ready for them. Old 
houses should have been put in repair, — and both 
houses and yards thoroughly cleaned. New houses 
should have been completed earlier in the summer 
and given time to dry out thoroughly before any 
stock goes into them. These preparations and 
precautions are sometimes delayed without ill 
effects ; but on the other hand thousands of poultry 
keepers every year lose money by disregarding 
them. 



HOW TO GET THEM. il 

Dojft Crowd The?}i.—ThQ pullets should not 
be crowded. It is a mistake to think that until just 
about to begin to lay pullets can be crowded w^ith 
impunity„ To get good results, pullets that are 
shut up when half to three-quarters grown should 
have as much room as would be allotted mature 
hens in full lay. If anything, the growing pullets 
require more room. Poultr}^ keepers see at once 
the need of giving pullets that are nearly grow^n as 
much room as hens, but are not so easily brought 
to see the need of giving as much room to the 
smaller ones. As has been stated, the smaller 
pullets may be left out a little later, but if they are 
brought into the winter houses while small they 
should not be crowded. 

This brings us to the important questions, — How 
many laying hens should be kept in a flock .^ and, 
— How many square feet of floor space should be 
allotted to each hen ? 

liOW MUCSi ROOM PER liEiN? 
As far back as I can rem.ember, the rule for space 
given by authorities on poultry keeping has been 
ten square feet of house floor space to each hen. 
When keeping a large stock of laying hens for 
eggs I found it entirely practicable to disregard 
this rule, and got as good results in eggs when 
giving only four or five square feet of floor space 
to each hen as when giving ten square feet. I 



12 WINTER EGGS. 

knew many other poultrymen who had had the 
same experience. Two years ago (in 1S9S), using 
for the purpose a large number of reports furnished 
by members of the Farm-Poultry Experiment Club, 
I demonstrated that with ordinary good care in 
good quarters there was no difficulty in getting as 
good ^^^ yields as we have any accurate records of 
with the floor space allotted to each hen five to six 
square feet when the flock numbered anywhere 
from twelve to forty. With smaller flocks it was 
necessary to allow more floor space to each hen to 
get as good results. 

HOW MANY HENS IN A FLOCK? 

These same reports showed also that, contrary to 
the usually accepted theory, it was just as possible 
to get large average ^'g^ yields from large flocks as 
from small ones. The difference in results, gener- 
ally in favor of small flocks, being due not to the 
supposed fact that (for some mysterious reason) 
hens kept in large flocks would not lay as well as 
hens kept in small flocks, but to the fact that most 
poultry keepers do not succeed in feeding the large 
flock right. The indications were that very large 
flocks were generally underfed, or else not given 
enough exercise. I mention this that the beginner 
may know that if it would be more convenient for 
him to keep his hens in large flocks, they being 
given sufficient room, the Q'g'g yield from these 



HOW TO GET THEM. i^ 

large flocks will depend on his learning to handle 
the large lots as easily as most people do smaller 
flocks. I do not advise keeping the hens in large 
flocks, for experience shows that most poultry 
keepers get better results with them in smaller lots, 
but if it Is necessary to keep a large lot together one 
ought to get eggs just the same, and will if he 
handles the flock right. Most poultry keepers get 
better results with from twelve to twenty hens in 
each pen than when the numbers in the pens are 
much under twelve or over twenty. 

HOW TO PREVENT COLDS. 

Putting the pullets into winter quarters does not 
mean giving them winter care. Above all thlno-s 
the house must not be shut up close at night. It is 
both surprising and appalling what numbers of 
chickens are injured, or, maybe, ruined by being 
shut up close at night when first put into the 
houses. This, as often as exposure to cold and 
damp, is the cause of colds and roup. By night as 
by day, at this season the house should be kept as 
wide open as is possible without exposing the 
fowls to direct drafts when on the roosts. As most 
houses are built facing the south and with all win- 
dows and doors in or near the front, all glass sash 
may be removed during the summer, the windows 
being protected with wire netting if necessary, and 
the house thus becomes to all intents a shed, closed 



14 V/ INTER EGGS. 

on three sides and open on the fourth, which makes 
it quite the ideal summer house. Many poultry 
keepers who use scratching shed houses put roosts 
in the open shed during the summer, and also 
remove the sash from the window in the roosting 
room, thus giving the fowls plenty of roosting 
room for warm nights. The houses can be left 
quite open at night, except in case of cold driving 
rain, until it begins to freeze outside. Even after 
that they are better not closed entirely until it is 
cold enough to put a crust of ice on w^ater in the 
house. Fowls thus cared for are not liable to colds 
from being overheated at night ; nor, being grad- 
ually hardened up as the weather grows colder, are 
they so likely to take cold on the approach of severe 
winter weather as those which have been kept in 
closed houses. It might be added that fovvds which 
have been accustomed to sleeping in rather close 
quarters are not always injuriously affected thereby. 
The trouble occurs when chickens, accustomed to 
sleeping in the open air or in airy coops, are sud- 
denly transferred to quarters w^here there is a poor 
circulation of air. 

FEEDING FOWLS. 
Feeding fovv^ls is by no means as difficult a matter 
as the novice who today finds some poultry and 
agricultural books and papers full of allusions to 
"scientific feeding '^ and "balanced rations" is 
likely to suppose. The beginner does best for 



HOW TO GET THEM. 15 

himself when he pays no attention to such sup- 
posedly scientific discussions of poultry feeding. 
It is not really necessary for a poultry man to know 
anything about the chemical composition of foods, 
or the how and the why of the various changes 
which accompany the processes of digestion, assim- 
ilation and e^^ production. If the amateur egg 
farmer has already acquired some such knowledge 
it should not be a disadvantage to him, and will 
not be unless he trusts to it rather than to the 
experience of successful practical poultrymen. 
But for every beginner who has neither practical 
experience in feeding fov/ls nor scientific knovvd- 
edge of the articles used as poultry foods, the 
wisest course to pursue is to let the question of 
scientific feeding severely alone until the elements 
of practical poultry feeding have been mastered, — 
in other words, until one has acquired skill in 
using a ration which has been tested and found 
good. After that, if he is disposed to study the 
scientific phases of the feeding question, he may 
find such study interesting, and to some extent 
helpful, though I can assure him that not one poul- 
tryman in fifty ever has occasion to put to practical 
use a knowledge of the chemistry of poultry foods. 

Scle7zce is Skill. — If it could be brought about, 
it would be desirable to make the terms " science " 
and " scientific " when applied to poultry feeding, 
refer exclusivelv to that kind of science which con- 



1 6 WINTER EGGS. 

sists in skill acquired by intelligent practice, for it 
is in acquiring such skill that one learns how to 
feed for eggs. I don't like the common expression, 
"feeding problem," because to most persons the 
idea of a problem is of something difficult because 
intricate and puzzling, while this matter of feeding 
fowls right is not difficult unless one deliberately 
makes it so. It is not a matter of learning what to 
feed, and how to compound rations balanced to 
exactly meet the requirements of the fowl, but of 
practice in feeding a particular lot, or lots, of fowls 
according to appetite, condition and results. 
And, as has been said, to acquire the art of good 
feeding is not difficult, for it is not required that 
the poultryman shall attempt the impossible and 
try to exactly balance the proportions and amounts 
of the various foods given the fowls against their 
needs. • His part in feeding is to see that the fowls 
get enough and a sufficient variety of suitable 
foods, and that the conditions under which the 
fowls are fed are such as discourage gluttony, 
keep the digestion sound and the appetite healthy. 
For the sake of economy in feeding he must learn 
to feed in such quantities that there will be but 
trifling waste in rejected or fouled food ; but if he 
-follows an approved system of feeding he need 
-not fear that there will be waste of food or damage 
.to the fowls because the diet chances to contain a 
trifle less nitrogenous matter, or a little more car- 



HOW TO GET THEM. ly 

bohydrates than some writer on the science of 
feeding has giv^n as the correct proportion. 

The Appetite the Guide. — The appetite of the 
fowl is nature's provision for balancing the ration. 
Though in the artificial conditions imposed upon 
hens for the purpose of getting a more than nat- 
ural Q.^^ yield, we cannot at some seasons get the 
results desired if wx allow the appetite full con- 
trol of the fowl's diet, the appetite must always be 
consulted ; and in going contrary to the normal 
appetite of a healthy hen, we always run a risk of 
injuring her constitutionally and thereby defeating 
our purposes. 

V/hat is a Normal Appetite? — In this connec- 
tion and in explanation of what has just been said, 
I would emphasize the distinction between a 
normal, or healthy, and an abnormal, or unhealthy, 
appetite ; for it is important that the novice should 
know the diiierence and not allow an abnormal 
appetite in his fowls to govern his feeding. In 
healthy fowls which have always had a good 
variety of food fed under conditions insuring 
proper digestion, the appetite is normal. The 
fowl does not crave an excessive quantity of any 
one particular kind of food. But in fowls which 
have not been fed properly, which have been 
deprived of some needed article, there is generally 
a craving, an abnormal appetite for the kinds of 



iS WINTER EGGS. 

food in which their ration has been deficient, and 
if the opportunity is afforded the fowls will eat to 
excess of such articles, and sometimes kill them- 
selves by doing so. 

The best way for a novice to judge whether or 
not his fowds have natural, healthy appetites is to 
compare the quantity they would eat of any article 
with the quantity of that article recommended by 
experienced feeders. If it does not vary much 
either way, the appetite is all right. If the fowls 
seem to crave, and will eat inordinate quantities of 
an article it is evident that they have not been 
given enough of that kind of food. If they seem 
to care little for it, eating much less than the 
common allowance, it is apparent that they are 
getting or have recently had more of it than was 
good for them. 

When the appetite is wrong it must be got back 
to the normal condition with as little delay as pos- 
sible. When a fowl has been overfed on any 
article it is best to discontinue the use of that 
article altogether for a little while, and when you 
resume feeding it to begin with small quantities, 
gradually increasing until about the usual allow- 
ance is taken. When a fowl has been underfed 
of a particular article, do not allow it to eat all it 
w^ants of it. If the article is one that is fed daily, 
increase bv a little the proportion of it used. If it 



HOW TO GET THEM. j^ 

is one fed occasionally give the average allowance 
each time, but feed it oftener than usual until the 
fowl will eat only about the regular allowance. 

Loss of Appetite. — In feeding hens for heavy 
^ZZ production it is sometimes found that the hens 
begin to lose appetite generally ; this indicates that 
the digestive system is a little overw^orked. It 
may happen even when fowls have plenty of 
exercise. The best way to rectify this condition 
is to omit a feed. The hens are almost certain to 
come to the next in good appetite. I found it a 
good plan, (w^iich had the additional advantage of 
lightening the Sunday work — always too heavy 
on a large poultry plant) to give only two meals to 
yarded hens on Sunday. 

Having said so much by way of explanation, 
let me repeat that healthy fowls with normal appe- 
tites ma}^ be fed according to appetite, both as to 
kind and quantity of any good ration, provided 
that they get the proper variety of food regularly, 
and are required to take a reasonable amount of 
exercise. This matter will be considered again 
after feeding formulas have been given. 

Ala7iy Good Rations Much Alike. — All good 
rations are based on certain general principles of 
good feeding which may be summed up in the 
assertions that fowls are omnivorous, require exer- 



20 WINTER EGGS. 

cise to secure the proper digestion of food, and, 
like all other creatures, will not work for food 
more than is necessary. The rations which follow 
are based on the application of these general prin- 
ciples to the conditions under which each of those 
whose feeding method is given kept fowls, to the 
food articles most available in his locality, and to 
his convenience in doing his work. 

MR. A. F. HUNTER'S METHOD. 

The first method given is that of Mr. A. F. 
Hunter, of South Natick, Mass., for many years 
editor of Farjn-Poultry^ whose scheme of feeding 
is one of the best ever devised, and has probably 
been adopted with gratifying results by more 
poultry keepers than any other ever published. 
It is open to criticism in that the arrangements for 
cooking the mash were inadequate, and also on 
the ground that the experience of many others 
has shown that where corn is cheap cracked corn 
could be profitably used much more freely than in 
this ration. I would also point out that in feed- 
ing fowls for eggs only it is possible, as we have 
seen, to crowd the hens more than was done 
here. However, the method as a whole is an 
exceptionally good one, adapted to a wide range 
of circumstances, and anyone w^ho follows it 
closely may know that if he does not get eggs, it 
is not the fault of the ration. I give Mr. Hunter's 



HGJV TO GET THEM. 21 

description of his method in his own words, quot- 
ing from Farin-Poiilt7'y^ November 15, 1897 : 

" Five mornings in the week we feed a mash 
made up of about a tliird cooked vegetables 
mashed fine, or cut clover cooked by being brought 
to a boiling heat in w^ater, an equal amount of 
boiling water added, a heaping teaspoonful of salt 
to a bucketful ; a heaping teaspoonful of Sheridan's 
Condition Powder two days, then cayenne one 
day, Condition Powder two days, then powdered 
charcoal one ; and into this is stirred mixed meal 
until the mash is as stiff as a strong arm can 
make it. 

" This mixed meal with us consists of one part 
each corn meal, fine middlings, bran, ground oats, 
and animal meal, a scoop or dipper of each being 
dipped in turn into a bag, and poured from 
the bag into the meal barrel from which it is 
dipped into the mash. We consider the thorough 
mixing of these meals a considerable factor in 
-making a good mash. 

"When we have cut fresh bone in abundance 
we omit the animal meal from the mixture ; 
ordinarily we have only about half rations of cut 
bone to go round, so use regularly half the amount 
of animal meal to make up the deficiency. * * * 

"The foundation of the mash is the cooked 
vegetables, >vhich may be refuse potatoes, beets, 



22 WINTER EGGS. 

carrots, turnips, onions, (anything in the vegetable 
line), and into the pot goes the table waste, potato 
parings, etc., and the potato, squash and apple 
parings from the kitchen. The potatoes or beets, 
etc., are washed before putting on to cook, and 
the mess when boiled is sweet and savory. If one 
has a set kettle in which to stir up the mash, and 
there leave it to cook in its own heat and the 
heat of the brick work, they are fortunate. We 
haven't, and have to make ours up in common 
water pails. 

" The vegetable or clover kettle is put on before 
sitting down to dinner, usually, and another kettle 
of water to be boiling hot when wanted. When 
the vegetables are cooked we set out four buckets 
in a row, dip out the vegetables into the buckets 
about equally, mash them thoroughly, add the 
salt, — always — and the condiment of the day, add 
boiling w^ater till the bucket is two-thirds full, 
then stir in of the mixed meal till it is stiff and 
firm ; then cover and set away to cook in its own 
heat. 

" Clover rowen (second crop clover) cut fine 
makes an excellent foundation for the mash, and 
two or three days of the week in winter we use 
that instead of vegetables. We fill two kettles 
with the cut clover and as much cold water as 
they will conveniently hold, and heat to a boil. 



HOW TO GET THEM. 23 

The clover is ladled out into the buckets about 
equally, the clever tea added and boiling hot water 
as before, then salt and the stimulating condiment 
and the meal stirred in. * * * 

" The morning mash is fed in troughs large 
enough so that all of the fifteen fowls in a pen can 
get about it at one time ; another important factor, 
because if the trough is small some of the birds 
have to stand back and wait for the second table, 
and when their chance does come there is nothing 
left for them. With a trough four feet long by- 
six inches wide there is plenty of room, and if a 
biddy is driven away from one place she runs 
around and goes to eating at another, and thus all 
get a share. * * * 

" Our fowls have exercise ground in summer 
in yards 125 x i3 feet, which gives them a grass 
run (with growing grass always in the growing 
season), and they will take ample exercise in 
pleasant weather. To keep them out of doors 
the noon feed of whole barley (or buckwheat) and 
night feed (before sunset) of wheat is scattered 
upon a graveled space immediately in front of the 
houses. Each family of fifteen has a pen within 
the house twelve feet square, or one hundred and 
forty-four square feet of floor space, which gives 
about ten square feet per fowl. The floor is the 
earth covered about six inches deep with screened 



2 4 WINTER EGGS. 

gravel. On this gravel the grain is scattered in 
stormy werither, in spring, summer and early fall, 
when we want the birds to stay indoors. When 
cold weather approaches exercise must be stimu- 
lated, and we cover the pen floors three or four 
inches deep with chopped meadow hay or chopped 
straw, into which the grain is scattered, and the 
biddies have to dig it out. Some poultrymen use 
dry leaves from pen litter ; chaff from a threshing 
mill would be most excellent (nothing could be 
better) , and we have found one or two cases where 
common cornstalks were used. With us, straw 
or meadow hay is most easily obtained, and we 
use that. What the scratching material is, is 
of far less importance than that the scratching 
material is there. 

" Whole wheat is the best grain food for fowls, 
whole barley is the next best, and buckwheat 
next. We make barley or buckwheat the noon 
feed five days in the week, and wheat the night 
feed five or six days in the week. We do not 
make the mash on Sunday, because we want to 
reduce the Vv^ork to its lowest terms on that day, 
doing no more than the regular feedings and 
waterings, and collecting the eggs. 

"Monday we feed oats (or barley), wheat, 
whole corn. 

" Tuesday, mash, barley (or buckwheat) , w^heat. 



HOW TO GET THEM. 35 

*' Wednesday, mash, cut bone, wheat. 

" Thursday, oats, barley, wheat (or corn). 

"Friday, mash, barley, wheat. 

"Saturday, mash, cut bone, wheat. 

" Sunday, mash, barley (or buckwheat), wheat. 

" Two feeds of cut bone each week, one or two 
of whole oats, and one or two of whole corn, 
(according to the season), give variety to our 
ration, and to that is added whole cabbages hung 
in the pens in cold weather to tempt picking them 
to get green food ; or turnips, or beets, or carrots 
are split in halves and placed in the pens to be 
picked to pieces and eaten. 

"Ground oyster shells are always accessible, 
and fresh water, replenished three times a day, 
(vv'arm in winter), and the water pans are care- 
fully rinsed every day." 

HR. C. H. WYCKOFF'S HETliOD. 

The next ration given is that used on the White 
Leghorn farm of C. H. Wyckoff (now Gray & 
Storke), Groton, N. Y., one of the most famous 
^'g'g farms in the country. 

Morning, — Mash compounded as follows : i 
bu. corn, 2 bu. oats, ground fine ; to each 200 lbs. 
of this mixture add 100 lbs. bran, and 5 or 6 lbs. 
beef scraps ; moisten with milk ; feed in troughs, 
returnino^ after ten or fifteen minutes to take up 



26 WINTER EGGS. 

any food that may be left, and give a second feed- 
ing where needed. At noon, — green food, man- 
gels or cabbage in winter, clover or kale in 
summer ; sometimes a light feed of mixed grain in 
litter. Night feed, — mixed grain, in winter 2 bu. 
each wheat, oats, buckwheat and corn ; in summer 
the corn in the mixture reduced one-half. 

COOKED VS. UNCOOKED MASHES. 

The reader will notice that in this ration the mash 
is simply moistened — not cooked or half cooked as 
in the one given first. Though many poultrymen 
prefer a cooked mash, claiming that fowls do better 
on it ; and though myself one of those who prefer the 
cooked mash because for me fowls have generally 
done better on a well cooked mash than on a half 
cooked or raw one fed with the same ration under 
the same conditions, I must say that it is a matter 
of record that a great many poultrymen get as 
good results with uncooked as others do with 
cooked food. It does not seem to make any differ- 
ence, except that fowls accustomed to one system 
may not at first do so well when changed to another, 
and it is better to stick to one system than to be 
always changing back and forth. 

MR. C. !. NESMITH'S HETHOD. 

On the farm of C. I. Nesmith, Reading, Mass., 
one of the model poultry farms of New England, 



HOW TO GET THEM. zf 

where some eight hundred laying hens are wintered 
annually, the feeding system and ration are : — 
Morning, — a full feed of some whole grain, gener- 
ally wheat, but barley, oats, or buckwheat is often 
used. The grain is fed in litter to compel exercise. 
Noon, — a light feed of grain. Evening, — mash 
of dried bread, cut clover, beef scraps and mixed 
meals, well cooked and fed warm — not hot — all 
they will eat. 

THE EVENING HASH. 
It will be noticed that here the mash is fed in the 
evening. This farm was one of the first to adopt 
this method, which has become quite common, 
though the great majority of those who use a mash 
feed it in the morning. Advocates of the different 
systems will often insist that this one or that, 
whichever they prefer, gives better results. Avail- 
able records of results indicate no difference on 
that score between the two systems. Feeding the 
mash in the evening is sometimes more convenient 
for the poultry keeper, and in such case it would 
seem to be preferable. 

riR. E. O. ROESSLE'S flETHOD. 
The method used by Mr. E. O. Roessle, formerly 
editor of the poultry department of the Country 

Gentlenia7t, and proprietor of a large poultry farm 
at Albany, N. Y., was given in his paper as 

follows : — 



2S WINTER EGGS 

'^ I feed a mash every morning in the week, and 
continue it until I find my hens are getting tired of 
it ; then I change to a grain feed for variety. The 
mash consists of one part bran, one part ground 
corn and oats, one part corn meal. This is all 
mixed together with hot water at night, covered 
up, and left to steam until morning, when it is fed 
warm. I change the ingredients occasionally, 
leaving out one and adding middlings or mashed 
up vegetables. I never give my hens all they will 
eat of this mash — only enough to satisfy the crav- 
ings of hunger. Cracked corn (because it is 
small and hard to find), wheat and oats mixed 
together are scattered in the litter, and the hens are 
compelled to scratch to find it. At noon I feed 
cabbage every day. At night I feed a scratch feed 
of whole corn, wheat, and. oats, and all they can 
possibly eat ; if the w^eather is very cold, more 
corn than oats ; if the weather is extremely cold, 
frequently all corn. Surely there is nothing very 
difficult or mysterious about this mode of feeding, 
and I get eggs all winter. 

"My flock is supplied with fresh water once 
every day, and never until about nine or ten o'clock. 
I consider this the best hour, because the hens are 
then warmed up and ready to drink. Giving 
fowls water at seven o'clock in the winter morn- 
ings, is like giving a man ice water after he has 



NO TV TO GET THEM. 29 

passed a not too warm night. It chills his whole 
system, and it requires all the blood in his body to 
take off the chill. It has the same effect upon the 
fowls, and when they are thus chilled they will 
not lay until they are warmed up." 

THE AUTHOR'S HETHOD. 

The method which after several years experience 
and experiment I adopted, as well suited to closely 
yarded fowls in a dry climate (Colorado) where 
at that time many believed t.'g^ farming could not 
be carried on successfully because of the difficulties 
of the climate and altitude, was: — Morning, — 
mash ; by measure 2 parts finely cut alfalfa, 3 
parts heavy bran (bran and middlings), i part 
corn meal ; cook alfalfa in as much water as will 
make the quantity of mash needed of proper con- 
sistency, (about the proportion of 5 gals, water to 
each peck of cut hay) ; when boiling stir in corn 
meal, or corn chop, making a thick mush ; add the 
bran, mixing thoroughly, to make a stiff crumbly 
dough. Feed either hot or cold, all they will eat 
clean in ten to fifteen minutes. If other green 
food is abundant the hay may be omitted, — in 
which case not so much mash should be fed, and 
the green food given an hour or two after the 
mash. With the proportion of nicely cured alfalfa _ 
specified fowls will not suffer for green food if 
they get no other, but when a variety of fresh 



30 WINTER EGGS. 

green food is obtainable it should always be used. 
Noon, — a light feed of oats or millet, dry or 
steamed; or of wheat, about one-half pint to every 
ten hens. Noon feed omitted on Sundays. Even- 
ing, — at four or five o'clock, wheat — about a pint 
to every ten hens, in litter ; at dusk a little whole 
corn to fowls that were waiting for it or would 
come from the roost to get it. Two or three times 
a week the hens got all the cut bone or beef liver 
they would eat about the middle of the afternoon, 
and on these days the evening feed was slightly 
reduced. The mash was cooked in a large set- 
kettle and mixed with a long handled shovel. 
When fed in the morning it was fed hot. During 
warm summer weather when the fowls preferred 
to exercise out in the yards, (which were littered 
and in which the grain was usually fed) , in the 
mornings and evenings, and because of the heat 
would go hungry rather than exert themselves for 
food through the heat of the day, the mash was fed 
at noon, and was then considerably cooled though 
not cold. 

HOT OR COLD MASHES. 

Within a few years a great deal has been said 
in poultry papers of the evil of feeding hot mashes. 
There have been some who have asserted that hot 
mashes were responsible for many cases of colds 
and roup, and that the hot mash was unsafe. As 



HOJV TO GET THEM. 31 

I used hot mashes for years with very little colds 
and roup in any flock, (none at all that would be 
traced to this cause), and as many others are regu- 
larly feeding a hot mash without the least reason 
to suppose it causes trouble of any kind, I must 
dissent from that opinion. At the same time I 
would say that if hens are fed so much of a hot 
mash that they cannot eat anything more, and will 
not look for grain in the scratching floor, or take 
any exercise until several hours have passed, there 
may be more danger of their catching cold if the 
mash feed is hot than if it is merely warm, or cool. 
But, hot or cold, a mash should not be fed in this 
way. Give the hens "all they will eat up clean 
and quick" of a properly compounded mash, and, 
if in good condition, they will promptly begin 
scratching or foraging, for the quantity of a mash 
of right consistency which is eaten up quickly is 
not apt to produce satiety. 

My reason for feeding the mash hot was that 
my hens seem to prefer it that way, a preference 
which to anyone who likes his meals smoking hot 
seems perfectly natural. I never saw any reason 
to suppose that they laid better for the mash being 
hot, except perhaps in extremely cold weather. 
They were certainly in no way the worse for it. 
After removing to Massachusetts I fed my small 
flock of hens thus, both summer and winter :— 



2 WINTER EGGS. 



Morning, — mashes, alternating, one day table 
scraps and slops mixed cold with corn meal, 
shorts and bran equal parts ; next day, 2 parts 
corn meal, i part fine shorts, 3 parts bran, a little 
meat meal ; make a thin mush of the corn meal, 
and pour while at boiling temperature over the 
other ingredients previously mixed dry in a pail ; 
stir thoroughly to a stiff, almost crumbly dough ; 
feed when cold. (A mash made in this way 
needs time to cook by its own heat). Noon, 
in winter, — vegetables or occasionally steamed 
clover. The steamed clover was only given by 
way of variety. The fowls would not eat much 
of it, but it helped keep them occupied. After- 
noon feed, — about three o'clock, cracked corn in 
heavy litter, i qt. to twelve hens two days ; third 
day same amount of wheat. On cold evenings as 
much w^hole corn as would be eaten greedily. In 
summer these hens had good grass yards, and 
could get all the grass needed, and many worms 
and bugs. Feeding by this system I found nothing 
in either condition or product of the hens different 
from the results of feeding the other ration with 
the hot mash. 

THE FEEDER MUST USE JUDGMENT. 

Now in using any of these rations the beginner 
must understand that the proportions of the various 
articles given are for stuff of average good quality. 



HOW TO GET THEM. 33 

If by chance an expert feeder buys a quantity of 
grain or mill stuff of inferior or superior quality, 
and the difference is great enough to sensibly affect 
the feeding value of the ration, he allows for this 
in mixing the mash or in deciding the proportions 
of the different grains to be used. The foods 
which are most likely to vary from the average 
standard of quality so much that special lots 01 
them may make trouble for a beginner are the 
commercial mixtures of ground grains, the pre- 
pared meat foods, and such grains as oats and 
millet. The commercial mixtures, though sup- 
posed to be uniform in quality, and .perhaps 
generally so, are occasionally far off the average 
standard. An experienced user of such articles 
will see this when he mixes the food even if he 
failed to do so when purchasing it ; but a novice 
cannot be expected to do so, and frequently strikes 
a snag in consequence. As experience comes, how- 
ever, difficulties of this kind diminish. Articles 
of the class just mentioned are I think more likely, 
when not of usual quality, to be below rather 
than above the standard. With meat meals and 
meat preparations on the other hand the reverse is 
sometimes the case. A number of instances came 
to my notice the past winter where persons feed- 
ing standard meat preparations according to man- 
ufacturers' instructions based on the guaranteed 



34 WI?7TBR EGGS. 

quality of the articles, soon found that their fowls 
showed all the symptoms of being overfed w^ith 
meat. They were advised to reduce the quantity 
of meat until conditions were right. They did so, 
and results showed that the excess of meat in the 
ration had caused the trouble. The usual faults 
with oats and millet are that the grains are not 
well filled out, the kernel being sometimes almost 
entirely wanting, and the hull prevents this being 
noticed. These grains should always be well 
sampled before buying. Barley is also sometimes 
deficient in the same way, but not so often as the 
others. Again and again I have seen people 
feeding millet in which there was hardly one 
sound well filled grain in a dozen, and sometimes 
it is almost impossible to get oats worth feeding. 

ADJUSTING THE RATION. 

Notice that in all the rations given the bulk of the 
ration is of grain — whole and ground. If in feeding 
one will give about the average quantity of mash 
and grain per fowl — if anything different, giving 
a little less rather than more ; and will then give 
regularly and abundantly all the meat and green 
stuff the hens want, he will have little trouble in 
keeping his hens in good condition and laying 
well. The only difficulty will be that in extremely 
hot weather the hens, if permitted to do so, might 
eat so much green stuff and so little grain that the 



HOW TO GET THEM. 35 

egg yield would be very much reduced. This can 
be avoided when the fowls are yarded by giving 
the green food only after the hens have had quite 
a substantial meal of grain. When the hens are 
on range and are not laying well in summer, it is 
a good idea to keep them up in the morning until 
they have eaten a fair breakfast of grain, then let 
them eat what they choose the remainder of the 
day, giving again what they will eat before going 
to roost. If their range is good they may not 
want anything, but they should have it if they 
need it. 

GOOD MASHES ARE BULKY. 
Most good mashes are bulky — the bulk being 
made by clover, or vegetables or bran, either sepa- 
rately or together ; or by the swelling which 
takes place -in thorough cooking. A mash that is 
bulky with hay or, vegetables can be fed much 
more freely than one which owes its bulk mostly 
to the condition of the grain in it, and a well 
cooked mash can be fed much more liberally than 
a partly cooked one or one that is merely wet. 

GOOD RATIONS PROVIDE VARIETY. 

Observe that all the rations given provide a good 
variety of food. Variety in feeding is necessary 
if you have continuous good results. Fowls which 
are limited to a very few articles of diet are much 
more likely to lose appetite, and more susceptible 



^6 WINTER EGGS. 

to disease than those which are furnished an ample 
variety. It is not necessar}' that the bill of fare 
should be elaborate, but is necessary that it should 
not be monotonous. 

GRIT ESSENTIAL. 

A good supply of clean, sharp grit should be 
always accessible to the hens. Sometimes a loss 
of appetite is due to lack of grit. I have seen 
hens that refused to eat, suddenly recover their 
appetites when furnished with grit. They would 
pick up a few pieces of grit and then begin to eat 
food which perhaps ten minutes before they had 
refused. Your hens may do without grit for a 
Ions: time without showinof the effects of it, but the 
digestive system will be slowly and surely breaking 
down, as you will find out when too late to remedy 
matters. 

ABOUT EXERCISE. 

Exercise and good feeding are inseparable. In 
a state of nature fov/ls have to forage vigorously 
for about all the food they get. We may suppose 
that occasionally they find a full meal quickly and 
easily, but most of what they get to eat comes 
little by little. So in the semi-natural conditions 
wdiich are found on many farms the fowls forage 
for most of what they get, and like the wild fowls, 
though not to the same extent, their productive- 
ness is limited to a short season. On the farm 



HOW TO GET THEM. 37 

there is rarely such varied abundance of food easily 
accessible that tho fowls sutler for lack of exercise. 
With well fed hens, as kept by poultry keepers 
who try to feed for good results, the case is difier- 
ent. Good feeding tends to make fowls sluggish. 
The proper digestion and assimilation of food 
depend on the hens taking enough exercise to 
keep them in good physical condition. Experience 
has shown that this must be, in part at least, com- 
pulsory. The ingenuity of the poultry keeper 
solves this question by giving the hens their whole 
grain burled in litter so that to get it they must 
scratch for it. Those who have adopted this 
method (most progressive poultry keepers are of 
the number) have sometimes made the mistake of 
compelling the fowls to take too much exercise. 
All that Is necessary Is enough to keep the diges- 
tion sound. 

MOW riuCH TO FEED. 
The question, — How much to feed, is one that 
bothers most novices. It is not an easy question 
to answer in words. As has been said, the poul- 
tryman must learn to feed according to appetite, 
condition and results, and this he must learn by 
experience. However, It will help a novice to 
know just how much some one else has fed to get 
certain good results. He can know by comparing 
his w^ork with these whether or not he is feeding 
about the usual quantity. If he is feeding much 



2 8 WINTER EGGS. 

less and getting good results he needs to look to 
the condition of his hens to see that they are not 
running down in flesh as a result of short rations 
and good laying. A great deal of irregular laying 
is traceable to this cause. If he is feeding light 
and the hens are not laying, or not laying well the 
difference between what he feeds and what others 
feed suggests the necessary amount of increase in his 
ration. If he is feeding much more than the usual 
amount he needs to look to see where he is wasting 
food — what becomes of it — for it is not likely 
that his hens eat it all. Each one, in feeding poul- 
try, must rely finally upon his own judgment, but 
the statements of amounts fed by others are good 
for rough measures for the inexperienced. In giv- 
ing this information I will give also other details 
of the method of each person whose work is 
quoted, and these statements taken with the rations 
already given will furnish a variety of thoroughly 
tested rations from which the beginner should 
select that which seems best suited to his circum- 
stances and follow it as closely as he can. It 
will be found better at first to follow one man 
closely than to attempt to combine the methods of 
two or more. The important thing for the novice, 
is first to acquire skill in using a good niethod of 
feeding — having become skillful with one he may, 
if it is advisable, vary it, but at the start he had 
better follow his model. 



HOJr TO GET THEM. 39 

MR. M. K. BOYER'S HETHOD. 

First I give a lation for a dozen medium sized 
fowls, recommended by Mr. M. K. Boyer, editor 
of^l -Few Hens: — 

Dump all kitchen scraps into an old pot, and 
cook each evening ; salt when cooking. In the 
morning heat up again. Scald one pint bran, 
one pint equal parts ground oats and corn meal ; 
mix with the scraps. Twice a week add a little 
Sheridan's Condition Powder or charcoal and sul- 
phur. Feed two quarts (less rather than more) to 
twelve hens. At noon feed one pint of wheat or 
oats in litter, at night one quart of wheat, or oats, 
or (in winter) cracked corn in litter, feeding the 
grains in regular rotation. 

MR. S. B. PATTON'S METHOD. 

Mr. S. B. Patton of Newcastle, Pa., a member 
of the Farm-Poultry experiment club in 1S9S, fed 
a pen of twelve Silver Wyandottes as follows : — 
Morning, one quart of wheat in litter. Noon, 
green food, clover, mangels or cabbage. Even- 
ing, mash, eight parts corn meal, eight parts fine 
bran, four parts buckwheat middlings, three parts 
meat meal, two parts oil meal, a little salt ; all 
mixed in warm water and fed crumbly, all they 
wmII eat clean. 

In these two rations the quart of grain fed in lit- 
ter is not all eaten at one time. Mr. Bover's hens 



40 WINTER EGGS. 

fed a quart of grain at night would eat about two- 
thirds or three-fourths of it, and what little was 
left would keep them busy at intervals through the 
next morning. The pint of grain fed at noon 
would give the hens a very light feed at the time, 
and leave something well concealed for those 
which were hungry enough to work for it through 
the afternoon. When Mr. Patton gave his hens a 
quart of grain in the morning that was enough to 
give them a breakfast without too much time 
being taken to get it, and leave something in the 
litter to search for through the day. 

It is understood also that the quantities given are 
the usual quantities, which would be slightly 
increased or decreased if in the judgment of the 
feeder that was necessary. 

riR. OBE LASH'S METHOD. 

Mr. Obe Lash of Vermont, 111., used this ration 
for pens of a male and twelve hens, Plymouth 
Rocks, in confinement : — 

Morning and noon, — for pullets, one pint wheat 
in Htter ; for hens ^ pint. Evening, — mash, four 
parts beans, two parts shorts, three parts ground 
oats, one part ground corn, one-third the whole 
cut clover; every third day one-quarter the whole 
green cut bone, two tablespoonsful pulverized 
charcoal to a bucket of feed ever}^ third day ; wet 
with hot water, and w4ien cool {itQ(\ until the crops 
are about two-thirds full. 



HOW TO GET THEM. ^x 

A member of the F.-P. experiment club whose 
25 Barred Plymouth Rocks averaged fifteen dozen 
eggs each in 1S98, fed this ration :— 

Morning, — Mash, (2^^ quarts), made of i part 
corn meal, 3 parts bran, scalded ; cut bone or meat 
scraps mixed with the mash three times a week, 
other days vegetables ; Sheridan's Condition Pow- 
der in the mash once a week ; cabbages, beets, and 
other vegetables freely. Noon,— i quart wheat or 
oats alternately until the middle of May, then oats 
only for the rest of the year. Evening, — About 
2 quarts of corn daily. During the summer the 
hens had free range. 

GENERAL REflARKS ON CARE OF LAYING 
HENS. 

Having given the foregoing feeding formulas 
and general hints, we take up a few points specially 
relating to the diet ,and care of laying stock at 
different seasons. In the early fall both pullets and 
hens should be well fed — not stinted at all. At 
this time there is little danger of overfeeding, if the 
stock is healthy and conditions for exercise right. 
Pullets can stand pretty high feeding, because few 
are full grown and fewer still full feathered. 
Besides, in the early part of the laying period 
though we say the pullet has reached laying matu- 
rity, she is not fully developed physically, and is at 
the same time making growth and producing eggs. 
She can, therefore, use a heavy ration. 



42 WINTER EGGS. 

The hens kept over are in their molt, and can 
stand about as heavy feeding as pullets. Hens 
molt best on a ration that would be likely to make 
them overfat if in good condition and full feather. 
They keep in better condition during the molt, and 
lay better afterwards. 

I have always made it a practice to keep my 
poultry houses open so much as possible both day 
and night, because my experience has taught me 
that abundance of fresh air is one of the best pre- 
ventives of disease, and that fowls do much better 
when hardened to a reasonable degree of cold, 
heating foods being fed ta keep up the necessary 
warmth, — than when shut up in warm houses and 
fed on a less heating diet. However, in hardening 
up fowls in this way in the fall one must avoid 
exposing them to a degree of cold that would 
injure them by checking development. The care 
of laying stock at this season calls for good judg- 
ment. When severe storms or frosts come the 
hens must be properly protected from them. Even 
a single exposure of a few hours may delay laying 
as effectively as exposure to a week of bad weather. 
The point is that the hens must be made comfort- 
able, if need be, at short notice. The fall may 
pass without any rough weather, the days uni- 
formly fine and days and nights gradually growing 
cooler until winter is on in earnest and the hens so 
well seasoned that it hardlv seems necessary to shut 



HOW TO GET THEM. .^ 

their houses at all. Another season there may be 
frequent sharp and sudden changes, and the fowls 
should be provided for accordingly. In extreme 
cases it pays even to go to the trouble of driving 
them into the houses in advance of a cold v^ave, 
that they may not be chilled by remaining out as 
usual until they become thoroughly uncomfortable. 
These severe and sudden changes are responsible 
for many disappointments to those who have 
worked all spring and summer for early eggs. If 
the fowls are driven in and the house closed up, 
the warm air inside cools off gradually and thus 
the effect of the change on the hens is discounted. 
But there must be no coddling — no shutting up 
fowls for slight changes, no keeping them in when 
robust fowls should be comfortable outside. On 
sharp frosty mornings the fowls may be kept in 
until they have had a meal, but should never be 
confined late unless there is frost enough to nip 
their combs. There is nothing more objectionable 
in the management of laying hens than shutting 
them up close in only ordinary cold weather. It 
makes them soft, and after a time they are more 
susceptible to moderate than rugged fowls to severe 
changes. 

It is a good plan to cull out all birds easily 
affected by bad weather. Do not nurse such along 
in the hope that they will eventually be all right. 
Their room is worth more than their company. 



44 WINTER EGGS. 

Even when the snow is on the ground get the hens 
out for a little while every day. Clear away a 
place for them to sun themselves and take the air. 
Don't be over-careful to prevent them walking on 
and eating snow. It is often said that either of 
these things will stop laying. Healthy fowls which 
have dry comfortable quarters to go to whenever 
they feel so disposed can be allowed to go and 
come as they choose. Fowls that have a supply of 
water will not eat snow when it will hurt them. 

As the days grow short it becomes difficult to get 
in three meals a day, with intervals between long 
enough to keep the fowls in good appetite. My 
fowls always seemed to need to be up and about 
for a little while before they would eat their break- 
fast in a business-like way. If well fed at night, it 
was some little time after sunrise, even in the short 
winter days before they would eat heartily. When 
the mash is fed in the morning, a good method for 
the short days is to give all they will eat clean of 
a clover, alfalfa, or vegetable mash, and scatter 
millet, or other small grain, where they can get it 
by scratching for it at any time through the day. 
Then about three o'clock give a good feed in litter, 
and a little whole corn at dusk to help out any that 
may have failed to get their share. When the 
mash is fed in the evening it seems easier to regu- 
late the three meals in short days. 



HOW TO GET THEM. 4^ 

Whether he gives two meals or three the poultry 
keeper should learn to so regulate the quantity 
given at each meal, that the hens will be ready and 
waiting for the next. If this is not done hens soon 
go "off their feed," though not overfed. This is 
usually due to allowing them to get too hungry 
before the evening meal, making them so greedy 
that they quickly gobble up more than they can 
comfortably digest. By being observant and care- 
ful one soon acquires the knack of feeding about 
right for quantity, and finds it more simple than 
the amount of explanation needed to make it clear 
to an inexperienced person would indicate. 

Extreme cold weather is no bar to good laying 
if the hens come to it without having been suddenly 
checked. In such weather hens need a great deal 
of corn and also of animal food. The house, too, 
must be closed tight at night, and except during the 
warmer hours of the day. Then the hens must 
not be allowed to chill themselves with icy water 
or ice cold grain fed in troughs or on the bare 
ground. It is of little use to warm grain that is to 
be fed in litter, for most of it is cold before the 
hens find it, and at any rate they cannot eat it fast 
enough to chill them much. 

When it is so cold that the poultry house must 
be closed during all but six or seven of the twenty- 
four hours, ventilation needs close attention. In 



^6 WINTER EGGS. 

such weather the house quickly becomes very 
damp unless well ventilated, so that it must be 
kept open as much as possible to allow the circu- 
lation of air to dry the walls and ceiling. A good 
rule for ventilation in cold weather is, to open the 
house as much as can be done, and still leave it 
comfortable for the person working in it. 

In warm winter weather great caution should 
be observed in feeding. Use corn sparingly, 
increase the proportion of hay or vegetables and 
bran in the mash. As the warm spell passes, go 
back to the regular winter diet. 

In the spring hens need and will stand heavy 
feeding. While it is not entirely true that the 
more a hen eats the more she will lay, it is true 
that when the hen is laying heaviest she eats 
heartiest. Most hens lay very heavily in the spring 
months, and there is a tendency toward loss of 
flesh on this account unless the hens are particu- 
larly well fed. Novices rarely discover anything 
wrong until the hen is out of condition and stops 
laying. By watching the condition of the hens 
the trouble can be avoided. 

With the first hot days of summer, hens that 
have gone out of condition and hens of stock not 
accustomed to continuous laying are apt to quit. 
Nearly all hens show a disposition to let up on egg 
production in very warm weather, but judicious 



HOW TO GET THEM. 47 

care and feeding (see page 30) will keep those 
that are in condition, and have the staying quali- 
ties, laying fairly well all through the hot months, 
extra good laying is not to be expected. 

There are always some hens, sometimes quite a 
large proportion of the stock, which cannot be 
kept laying through the summer when handled in 
the usual way. These should be culled out, 
penned together and fed for fattening. On this 
treatment many of them may begin to lay in a 
short time and lay well for a few weeks. When 
they stop they should be marketed, and any that 
do not lay should be sold as soon as fat enough. 
It is better to handle them in this way than to 
indiscriminately sell all as soon as the general egg 
yield goes down, or hold all until time for the 
pullets to begin laying. 

WHAT IS A GOOD EGG YIELD? 

In these days when there is so much loose talk 
about 200-egg hens the beginner who is getting a 
much more moderate egg yield is often inclined 
to feel that results with him are far from satisfac- 
tory. For the information and consolation of 
such, I would say that these extraordinary egg 
yields — some of which are probably not authentic 
— are rare, and that as a matter of fact, flocks 
which average ten to twelve dozen eggs per hen 
per year are doing very good work, and if cost 



SEP 28 1900 



.3 WINTER EGGS. 

of food and labor are kept within reasonable 
limits, should give a very satisfactory profit. 
Indeed, did space permit, I could furnish data 
showing how a number of poultry keepers in 
different parts of this country are making good 
profits on hens which average less than ten dozen 
eggs each per year. Of course everyone wants 
to do as much better than this as he can, for 
generally speaking the larger the ^%z yield the 
greater the profit ; but it is a very serious mistake 
for one whose hens are doing fairly well by a 
well tried method to become dissatisfied and begin 
trying every new method of feeding or handling 
he h^'ears of in an effort to rival the chance 
phenomenal records which are published from 
time to time. 




v*H«H^4'*4»4'«^i'4««^-K=4>#*^*'K^^ 






■^§5 



^m 



In the fall and winter la worth a 
barrel in hot weather. There's a 
way that never fails to fetch eggs 
when they're wanted, and that la to 
feed, once a day, In a warm maslk 

—^CONDITIOM 

It helps the older hens, makea 
pullets early layers, makes glossy 
plumage on prize winners. If you 
can't get it we send one package, 
26 cts.; five, 81. 2-lb. can» 81.20; six 

for 85. Ex. paid. Sample poultry paper free. 

I. S. JOHNSON & CO.. BOSTON. MASS. 






><-<l*4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4>4-4«^4^ 



P OULTHY- 
Q RAFT 



By JOHN H. ROBINSON, 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 

l|||||{|i||lll||ll||[||llll |liiii||il |ii|i||i|in.Mi||> 



I II nil II 

002 867 045 P^ 



ON 



I PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPING 

3F"iiaLoXy IXXxxstra^toca.. 

The most complete, concise, and convenient work of its kind pub- 
lished. The only book which treats the subject systematically and 
thoroughly. A guide book for beginners, a text-book for learners, 
a reference book for working poultrymen and women. 

In this book we offer something entirely new in Poultry Literature. 
It is a book for all classes of Poultry Keepers. It gives the gist of 
the best knowledge of Poultry Culture in plain language for people 
who want plain facts, practical ideas, and trustworthy opinions. It 
is emphatically a Business-like Book for Busy People. It 
tells what to do, why to do it, and how to do it. Contains 
272 pages. Price $2.00. 

^€ — 



FARM-POULTRY PUB. CO., 



Boston, Mass. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



iiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu:"!i''''i: 



"SS2867 045A 



